The Young General
by RatherNerdyMan
Summary: Jaune Arc relies heavily on his ethics and beliefs. But what will he do when those closest to him are in danger? This is a story of how Jaune changes with the world around him. This is right after Season one, so anything after that (in this universe) hasn't/won't happen. (Very OOC at points)
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

* * *

"Say that one more time Arc, I dare you!" Cardin said pulling on the bunny faunus, Velvet's, ears for the last time.

"I said leave her alone Cardin!" Jaune practically screamed at the well-known bully of Beacon Academy. Cardin let go of Velvet's ears only to get up face-to-face with Jaune.

"You may have saved my life in Forever Falls, Jauney-Boy. But I've had it with your annoying face" Cardin hissed through clenched teeth. About to reveal Jaune's secret of getting into the school on fake records to everyone in the cafeteria, including his team and team RWBY. Jaune saw pure hatred in Cardin's eyes. He would soon regret this next decision for the rest of his life. He did what he swore to himself he would never do… Fight a human. He'd always based himself on the belief that fighting people was a weak way of just finding a solution to a simple problem.

Jaune clenched his fist in pure anger. He proceeded to punch Cardin straight in the face guessing his plans of revealing his secret, hoping that Cardin's blind rage would make him forget the whole thing. It worked better than Jaune thought, for Cardin didn't fight back, he just stood up and…. Left? Jaune then collapsed into himself and started crying profusely on the floor.

"Jaune?!" Pyrrha yelled as she ran over to the knight on the floor in the middle of the cafeteria, followed by the rest of her team. Jaune was out cold…

Yang and the rest of team RWBY walked over to the knight.

"Ahhhh… Did Vomit-Boy tiwe his wittle sewf out?" Yang said as the NPR of JNPR glared daggers at Yang effectively shutting her yap.

"You know how Jaune is, Yang" Ruby said as she glared at Yang for kicking him while he's down… And unconscious.

"He probably couldn't handle the stress that his recent actions put on him" Weiss said matter-of-factly.

Pyrrha scooped Jaune up bridal style and started taking him back to their shared dorm room. If you were there, you might have seen the lights reflect off of the newly formed tears on her otherwise perfect face.

"I told you to rely on us you idiot" Pyrrha whispered to the unconscious Jaune through her tears.

The rest of teams JNPR and RWBY all left, except Yang, who stood there by herself in the, now empty, cafeteria.

'Wiess it something I said?' Yang thought to herself with a giggle.

* * *

**_The Next Day_**

Jaune woke up with a stuffy nose and a cold sweat.

'Good going big-shot, you finally stand up to Cardin, then you cry and pass out…' Jaune thought to himself while trying to get out of his bed. "Trying" being the big word here, for when he tried moving his leg he found his partner tightly latched onto it. Jaune felt the heat rise to his face as he let out a massive blush. Not wanting to wake the huntress, he tried to go back to sleep. Right before he dozed off his vibrating scroll jolted him up again. He had received a message from Cardin.

_'Meet me at Beacon Cliffs ALONE after classes today… And bring your equipment'_

Jaune's auditory gulp could be heard from across the hall, that is, if anyone was awake.

"Just my luck" Jaune groaned before dropping the scroll on the floor and accepting the sweet ten minutes of sleep he had before normal morning activities ensued…

* * *

**Author's Note:**

(I hope I didn't do horribly, feel free to leave constructive reviews people :D)


	2. Chapter 2: The Book

**Chapter 2**

* * *

_**'Meet me at Beacon Cliffs ALONE after classes today… And bring your equipment'**_

Jaune looked at his scroll for what seemed like the hundredth time today. He was nervous to say the least.

He didn't want to tell anyone about the message he'd received from Cardin in the morning. What happened yesterday was bad enough, he didn't want to be treated like a kid. He had come to Beacon to learn and train to protect those in need, not to get protected himself. All of the events that had happened took out a big chunk of the very little pride that he had in the first place. During lunch he was walking to his friends' table when he caught Cardin making the slicing throat gesture with his thumb. As if Jaune wasn't already scared enough. He sat at the table and stared at his food, not eating a bite. Ruby, who usually snuck glances at Jaune while he ate because she thought he was cute while eating, noticed Jaunes worried expression and was starting to worry for the boy.

"Jaune? Is everything alright?" Ruby asked concerned.

"Huh…? Oh, hey. Yeah… I'm fine. Why do you ask?" Jaune replied with a forced smile.

That made everyone wince, Jaune was not the best at lying and it really showed. Pyrrha stormed out of the cafeteria, each step felt like thunder to Jaune. He knew why she was mad at him, and he would talk to her about this, but only after he took care of this whole business with Cardin.

* * *

_**After School**_

Jaune made sure to get to the dorm room first as to not worry his friends as to why he's rushing out of their room with all of his fighting equipment. But right as he was about to head off, he heard a familiar voice call out to him.

"Jaune, you know that you don't have to do this right?" It was Ren, he was hiding in the part of the room where the sun never touched, concealed by a veil of black. His sudden appearance elicited a girlish squeak from the blonde knight.

"Jeez Ren! Don't scare me like that! I almost had a heart attack!" Jaune said holding his chest where his heart is.

"Sorry about that, but I meant what I said Jaune. You can settle this any multitude of ways, and going to fight Cardin isn't the best choice here."

Jaune let out a long, drawn out sigh.

"Since when did you know?" Jaune asked with a defeated tone.

"You should make it a habit to lock your scroll before you throw it on the ground" Ren said, cracking a grin.

"Dang, that makes me feel really stupid. Does… Does Pyrrha know too?" Jaune asked with a hint of guilt.

"No, and I was planning on not having to tell her. But… What if something happens to you Jaune? You are the best strategist I've had the pleasure to meet, but your fighting skills aren't the best. I'm worried about you Jaune"

Jaune was caught off guard. They had barely shared a word together since their team was made. This was out of place for Ren, and Jaune didn't know what to say.

"I… I'll be fine Ren, thanks for worrying about me though" Jaune said as he tied the last piece of armour onto himself.

"You just watch, this'll all be over when I get back, it's not like he going to kill me!" Jaune yelled as he left.

* * *

_**Beacon Cliffs**_

"I'm going to kill you Arc!"

As soon as Jaune was in view of Cardin, he ran full speed at him, mace in hand, ready to strike. Jaune flailed about trying to get to Crocea Mors and his shield. He managed to lock weapons with Cardin and shove him away.

"WE DON'T NEED TO FIGHT CARDIN!" Jaune screamed at the monstrous looking teen recovering from being pushed away unexpectedly. Cardin didn't look himself, he looked bigger, more… Feral. He was doing what Jaune could only explain as growling and grunting. This scared Jaune, straight to his core. He could see the lust for blood in Cardin's eyes. If Jaune didn't fight, he knew that he would die.

_"AAARRRRRRCCC!_ " Cardin's voice was now an ear wrenching screech. He was changing, slowly, but Jaune could see it none the less. He had spikes coming out of his back, and parts of him were becoming pitch black.

"Oh god…" Jaune knew what was happening, he had learned it from his studies at Beacon. The creatures of Grimm appear when big amounts of negative energy are condensed in an area. But there were some very rare cases in which a person with a big enough of a negative emotion would act as a vacuum for the stuff. Making said person like a shell with nothing but those feelings inside. If it get's bad enough, and I mean really bad, the person would slowly turn into a Grimm themselves. Jaune was confused, Cardin had entered the advanced stages within ten minutes. This wasn't normal, and Jaune didn't like where it was leading. At this rate he would have to do his job as a hunter, and rid the world of one more Grimm…

(Que: (Utada Hikaru)-Sanctuary Ending)

'No!' Jaune thought to himself.

'Not again! I can't let this happen again! I came here to stop this, not to see it happen again!' Jaune was thinking of a way to help Cardin, any way. Until he heard Cardin call out to him.

"Jaune… Jaune…." Cardin only had 3/4 of his human face and his right arm and left leg left to prove that he was once a human. He was coughing up blood and motioning for Jaune to come closer… He went.

"Don't worry Cardin, I'll find a way to help yo-" Jaune was cut off by Cardin's weeping.

"You know that can't happen…. I'm too far gone, you know what you have to do Jaune" Cardin said through clenched teeth with tears streaming down his face. He was in a lot of pain.

"Tell Velv… *cough* that *wheeze* I'm sorry I couldn't hold out any longer….. and that I've always loved her" Cardin said, half of his face now Ursa.

"Stop talking like this is the end! I won't let your story end here Cardin, I can't… Not again" Jaune said starting to weep himself.

"You have to be brave Jaune! You…. AAAARRRRGGGGHHH!" Cardin let out a wail as his organs changed slowly from human to Ursa Grimm.

"Cardin!" Jaune yelled grabbing the other teen/grimm.

"BACKOFF! You want to… UGH….. You want to be a hunter right? *cough* I believe that you have the strength to be the best hunter out there. I GGGKKKNNNOOOWWWW IIIIITTTTTTT!" Cardin was almost full grimm by now.

"DDDDOOOOOOO IIIIIIIIIITTTTT! WHilE I'M StiLL Of HumAN MiNd…..! Please….." Cardin only had his left eye still in human form by this point. Jaune pulled out Crocea Mors and prepared to slice off Cardin's head just like he did to the ursa that attacked Cardin in Forever Fall.

"Irony is a cruel mistress" Jaune whispered while planting his feet.

"**I'm sorry for everything Jaune….. It wasn't the real me**" Cardin said right before Jaune flipped the last page of the book called Cardin Winchester.

(End: (Utada Hikaru)-Sanctuary Ending)

* * *

**Authors Note:**

(I am going to be progressively making the chapters longer and taking more time to write them. I do take ideas that I am given (I will give credit if used), so feel free to review your ideas so I can see them. Or you could just review it normally? Whichever floats your boat I guess... Also, tell me if I should continue this. I did it on a whim, but it has a lot of views...)


	3. Chapter 3: The Confrontation

**(I took some more time to make this chapter a little longer, and I will be making the chapters after this one longer also. I hope you guys enjoy! :D)**

* * *

**Chapter 3: The Confrontation**

* * *

It had been more than two hours since Jaune had left and Ren was starting to get more nervous. Ren was usually of clear mind, able to quickly find a solution to most problems. Thus, he would almost never get nervous over something as "trivial" as a fight. But this situation puzzled him. No matter how much he meditated or tried to relax, he couldn't help but feel worried. Like he KNEW something bad was bound to happen. When Pyrrha walked in she didn't really notice Ren's slight uneasiness, for he did not show his emotions much. But it only took Nora a few seconds after she got back before she was over next to Ren, poking his nose, asking what was wrong. Nora had known Ren almost all of their lives, and he'd never been this out of it. She poked and prodded until he finally gave up and told them what Jaune was up to, and that it had been three and a half hours since he left. That information almost broke Pyrrha. She knew what Jaune had been going through and she understood that he didn't want to "bother" anyone with his problems, it's just who he is.

Ren withheld the location from the girls, already kicking himself for breaking his promise to Jaune that he wouldn't tell Pyrrha. He knew that, if for some reason, Jaune was still fighting Cardin, and Pyrrha came to "save" him. He would never be able to gain any confidence.

"Give me his scroll" Pyrrha said giving Ren a death glare for holding out with this information.

"What are you talking about?" Ren asked nervously, although unless you were Nora, you couldn't have told.

"I already checked where he usually leaves it and it's not there. And he never takes it with him because he doesn't like technology that much." Pyrrha stated, pointing to his dresser drawer. Ren eyed the spot she pointed.

'How does she know where he keeps it?' Ren thought to himself, also asking if Pyrrha's affection for Jaune was getting on the dark side. After a bit of Pyrrha's constant glaring he reluctantly pulled out Jaune's hidden scroll and handed it to Pyrrha.

After a few seconds her eyes went wide and she darted out of the dorm room, followed by Ren trying to stop her and Nora saying that "We really ARE going to break his legs this time". Team RWBY was exiting their room for a training session when they caught sight of a red blur and the NR of JNPR chasing it.

"Woah, what's all this about?" Yang asked with a smirk.

"Jauney's in trouble" Nora said, not seeming worried.

On that note, team RWBY joined on this rescue mission for the leader of team JNPR.

What they were met with when they got there, they would never forget for the rest of their lives. There was a mound of dirt and what seemed to be a chestplate at the head of it.

"Hey, doesn't that look like…" Ruby asked as they approached.

"A grave….." Ren said with a visible shadow over his eyes.

When they got closer, they saw that there was a name engraved into it.

**Cardin Winchester**

This made both Ruby and Nora vomit and elicited a gasp from Weiss. Everyone else just stood there, staring at the newly dug grave in disbelief.

"No… NO! Jaune couldn't have! He wouldn't!" Pyrrha yelled dropping to her knees. While Yang was helping her up, she caught sight of a yellow head on the edge of the cliff.

"Why don't we go ask him ourselves?" she said as she nodded her head to where Jaune stood. Everyone ran over to him while calling his name. When they got to him, he turned around with closed eyes and a wet face. He was smiling. Then, like a flash of light, he was gone… It took them a little to process what had just happened.

"OH MY GOD….. HE JUMPED!" Yang screamed while jumping off the ledge after him. Followed soon by the teams going to the edge to watch. More than one person was enough to catch him, any more and they would just get in the way.

Yang could hardly see, the wind in her eyes made them water like crazy. She fired shots from Ember Celica to hasten her descent. She finally caught up with the boy and grabbed him with one arm while repositioning so she would belly flop the ground that was steadily approaching. She then kicked off of the wall of stone and launched them into the nearby treeline.

"Just… Dropping in?" Yang said, mocking Jaune's words when he caught Weiss in their trial mission.

"You should've let me drop Yang, I don't deserve life."

This shocked Yang. I mean, sure, she wasn't friends with him per-se, but she knew his attitude, and this was the opposite of his normal, goofy self. It scared her, she only then felt the weight of the situation. Jaune had tried to kill himself, and he would have done it if they hadn't found out soon enough.

"Yang….. Before you take me back up. I need you to tell Velvet to go to the cliffs. I need to tell her something" Jaune said while avoiding eye contact. Yang, caught off guard by his sudden request could only say "sure".

* * *

**Back at the Cliffs**

"They sure are taking their sweet time aren't they?" Weiss asked, arms crossed and tired of waiting.

This made both Pyrrha and Ruby to blush. Thinking of what they might be doing down there made them uneasy.

"Hey guys, where's Yang? She said that I needed to be he-…" She was cut off by the sight of the grave that entered her vision. Cardin's Grave…

Velvet dropped to her knees and stared at the chestplate/tombstone. Her eyes empty, almost like her soul had gone with him in that moment. The friends gathered around her, now knowing that Jaune was safe.

"What… What happened to him?" Velvet whispered loudly, as if her voice was being drained by the second.

"We… We don't know yet… All we know is that Jaune came to meet him an-" Ruby said before being cut off by Velvet.

"AND YOU JUST LET HIM GO?!" Velvet screamed, tears now flowing like a waterfall.

"We didn't know until it was already too late" Pyrrha said while looking at Ren, who was helping Nora with the situation.

Yang then, like on que, hopped up onto the edge of the cliff, said boy in arm. Yang let him go and immediately sat down, trying to comprehend what had just happened. While Jaune got up and started walking over to the group that was spread around the grave… That he had made. He didn't know if he could face them, but he had to tell Velvet. Velvet looked up and saw the shell of what was once Jaune Arc, slowly walking over, head down. She got up and started walking towards him also. It then got slowly faster, until she was a full sprint. Jaune looked up only long enough to see Velvet's fist. She had punched him, and it was hard. She kept repeatedly pummeling him with no resistance from the knight. The others ran over and pulled Velvet off only to see the damage she had caused. Jaune's nose was visibly broken what seemed like four times over in different areas. One of his eyes were bleeding profusely, and the other was too swollen for them to see. He was missing most of his teeth and he was coughing up blood. He was mutilated to say the least.

"Velvet! You could have killed him! What's your deal?!" Ruby asked while getting down to tend to her fellow leader.

"Who cares!" Velvet spat.

"He killed Cardin!" she said as she collapsed yet again. Her words echoing through everyone's minds. Could the lovable goof that everyone has come to know really do something so horrible? Pyrrha had already thought of the possibility and she didn't care. Cardin was the scum of the earth, no one cares when they take out the trash, this was the same thing to her.

"So what if he did?!" asked Ruby, surprising everyone. Pyrrha was about to say the exact same thing.

"Cardin is the one who invited him out her-" Ruby was saying before being interrupted by a loud, audible snapping noise. It was Jaune, his aura was already healing him. Which meant that his bones were snapping back into place, piece by *SNAP!* piece. This elicited a horrendous scream from the boy, this pain was very much worse than it being broken in the first place. This made everyone cringe. Except for Velvet, who had a wicked nasty grin on her face.

'H-Had she… Planned that?' Pyrrha thought in terror as she re-assessed the huntress next to her. After about thirty minutes it was starting to get dark out and no one had talked for the rest of that time. Jaune was almost fully healed, teeth and everything. He felt like it was the best time as ever. So he sat up, surprising some of his friends with his sudden movement. He then stared Velvet in her eyes.

"Cardin, he… He wanted me to tell you that…. That he loved you Velvet" Jaune said with immense sadness in his voice. This news shocked and confused everyone. Everyone but Velvet, she had a look in her eyes that was a mix of sadness, anger, and slight happiness.

"So he was finally able to say it huh? And it took him dying to get there…" Velvet said while putting a hand on the chest piece.

"Idiot" she said while holding back another wave of oncoming tears. It had only just then that it had sunk in to their friends. Jaune was a murderer, he had killed a human being.

"I… Guess I should explain…." said Jaune looking back down from Velvet.

* * *

**A Few Minutes Later**

"You can't expect us to believe that do you?!" Blake asked angrily. Everyone was speechless at his story.

"I…. I don't think he's lying guys" Velvet said quietly.

"I mean sure, we've read about this in textbooks and such, but for it to actually happen?" asked Ruby, who was sat next to Jaune.

"I know this may be surprising, but Cardin and I were childhood friends…" Velvet said, trailing off at the end, as if looking into the past.

"His dad was extremely abusive to him, he was bullied all throughout his school years." Velvet said.

"We thought that we could escape all of that by coming here to Beacon. But he had changed into the Cardin that you all knew" Velvet said, starting to cry again.

"I just let him do what he wanted, I thought he would get over it and go back to the way he was. But he never did, and this is what happened" Velvet then looked at Jaune and… Hugged him? This made both Ruby and Pyrrha's eye twitch.

"W-w-what are y-y-you doing Velvet?" Asked Ruby, flustered by Velvet's sudden show of affection.

"I didn't know you had gone through so much for him Jaune. Even if he was a jerk, you fulfilled his wish to you" Velvet said as she cried into Jaune, hugging him tighter.

"I don't deserve your forgiveness Velvet…" Jaune said pushing her away.

"I… I killed someone. You should have finished the job when you had the chance" Jaune said.

*SLAP!* Pyrrha had slapped Jaune out of no where.

"You are the most idiotic person I know!' this was very out of character for Pyrrha, she was usually very collected and composed. What she looked like now didn't seem to be herself anymore. Her green make-up was smeared all over her face from all of the tears she shed for her team leader silently. Her face was that of pure anger and confusion.

"Do you honestly think that we… No! That I could live without you Jaune?!" Pyrrha said, finally lifting the immense weight that had been on her chest. But that weight was the only thing keeping her tears from coming back. She hugged Jaune and cried into his shoulder.

"Yeah Jaune, you're a great team leader and person" said Nora, having one of her brief moments of sincerity.

Ren then put a hand on Jaune's other shoulder.

"It takes a great heart to do what you did today Jaune. Cardin knew that it was too late and he trusted you enough to end his suffering. It's not your fault." Ren said quietly, almost at a whisper.

"B-b-but, I'm a murderer! He's never coming back… Ever!" Jaune cried.

"Then fulfill his wish Jaune" said Weiss.

"You mentioned something about him saying that you could be the best hunter didn't he?"

"Then strive for that Jaune, be the best you can be and do what he thought you could. I'd say that's a good way to honor his memory" Weiss's sudden outburst shocked the others, she was acting out of character also.

"Thanks Weiss, I guess I could do that…" Jaune said getting up.

It was almost fully dark out by now.

"I think we should all get a full night's sleep. We've all had a long day" Yang said going to the group from her spot on the cliff where she was sat.

* * *

**Ozpin's Office**

"Well that was interesting" Ozpin said aloud to the figure standing in front of him.

"Yes… Very interesting indeed. He might just be everything you said he'd be Ozpin" Ironwood said, cracking a grin.

* * *

**Authors Note:**

(There was A LOT of crying in this chapter huh? So, I've been feeling like this story has been doing badly, do to the review count. I just wanted to know if I should continue this or not? It will help me a lot., thanks!)


	4. Chapter 4: The Decision

AN: Hey Guys, I'm gonna start this off with saying that, as you've probably already noticed. Most of the characters are OOC, I meant it to be this way and I hope there is no confusion. It helps me flow through the story in my head better...

* * *

Jaune felt like crap, to say the least. He couldn't understand it, after Cardin... After everything that happened the day before, how could everyone sleep as if nothing had happened at all? He couldn't sleep at all, every time he closed his eyes, all he could see was the thing Cardin had turned into... Dead, by his hands nonetheless. It then hit him, he was in a school for training Huntsman and Huntresses. It was by far the most dangerous job in the world, people didn't **just** become a huntsman or a huntress without a driving force.

Sure, Jaune's force was that he wanted to help people, like the heroes in the stories he always read. But he didn't know about his "friends", he was their leader, and as such, he should know them the best, but he didn't... He didn't even know why they wanted to be Huntsmen. Maybe they'd all experienced loss far greater than this, multiple times even. No, no even if that was the case, a life is a life, nothing changes if Cardin wasn't the... Nicest person around. Jaune didn't care to think of him, the images would come back, he didn't want to remember Cardin from the state he was in. He had apologized with all of his heart before asking Jaune to take his life, that took bravery and honor, something that Jaune valued immensely, traits that the heroes in his stories had, traits that he lacked... A loud snort from Nora startled him out of his train of thought. Thinking back, he couldn't think of Nora having experienced any dramatic loss in her life, but he didn't know, was it a facade? Did she just FAKE being hyper and excited all of the time? He didn't know, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he didn't know anything about his team. This fact hit him like a freight train.

How could he call himself a worthy leader? Sure, Pyrrha had told him that he was well worth more than he had thought. He even believed her... Until now, until he realized that she probably only told him that so that his self loathing wouldn't get her or the rest of his team killed. He didn't deserve to be here, he didn't deserve these friends. He didn't earn his spot in Beacon, some person, who probably was far more skilled than Jaune mind you, could have made it in and been a much better addition to the school than him. That's when he decided, decided that he was going to leave and never come back. It was the third trimester but Jaune knew that they would have to replace him somehow. He took a quick look at his scroll.

'_Good, it's only 6:00 in the morning, today is a Sunday so no one should be awake by the time I leave_' Jaune thought to himself.

He gathered all of his belongings into his bags and put on his armour ever so quietly, as to not wake his teammates. He was done by 6:15 and ready to go. He was at the door, just standing there, staring at it. Was this what he wanted? No, every fiber of his being wanted him to stay with his friends, but as Ruby had said, he couldn't be a failure because he was a leader now. So he decided that he would be a failure somewhere else.

"Wooow, sound logic Jaune. That sounded so much better in my head..." Jaune whispered to himself. Instantly regretted doing so. As he heard Pyrrha grunt as she sat up, rubbing her eyes while doing so.

"Jaune? What are you doing? Why do you have a bag in your hand?" Pyrrha seemed to grumble out.

"Uh... Just going to do some early morning practice. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." Jaune whispered, not even looked her way.

"Jaune... You don't get up this early EVER. What are you really doing? And why are you not looking at me? What's wrong?" Pyrrha asked, concern evident in her voice.

"N-n-nothing's wrong Pyrrha, honest! I think that I need a lot more training, so I've started going to train earlier than usual." Jaune said shakily. It wasn't fully true, but it wasn't a full lie either.

"Remember Jaune, we're all here for you. If there's anything you need to talk about you can trust us..." Pyrrha said, trailing off.

"I'm fine Pyrrha, seriously, I am." Jaune said opening the door to leave.

Just before Jaune closed the door, Pyrrha heard Jaune say "Thanks for everything". That was it, the tipping point. Everything came together at that time. The bags under his eyes and in his hands. The nervous tone in his voice. He was trying to leave! Trying being the main word here, Pyrrha would be damned if she let him leave. The team needed him, SHE needed him. She'd lost enough people in her life and she wasn't about to let another one go. Jaune had made a huge impact on Pyrrha's life in the short months that they had known each other. She had been alone most of her life, people seemed... Afraid of her. Like she was some perfect person that would be tainted by them even speaking to her. Jaune was different though, he had just met her and talked to her normally. He didn't even know who she was. He was brave and strong, it didn't matter what he thought of himself, she KNEW that he was amazing. He blocked that attack from the Death Stalker without much effort on his part. She hadn't thought much of it at the time, until she learned of his fake transcripts. He had done that with no prior training on his part. He had the makings to be one of the best. He couldn't leave now! He'd just started!

Pyrrha jumped out of her bed, now fully awake. She lunged out of the door and gave pursuit to Jaune who, now, was almost at the corner of the long hallway.

Jaune thought that his plan was foolproof, he'd say that he was going to train, then leave and never return. Seemed simple enough. That was, until he heard something behind him.

*THUD* *THUD* *THUD*

This noise was continuously getting closer and louder. By the time he had looked around, he got a face full of scarlet red. Next thing he knew, he was laying on his back with Pyrrha on top of him, crying. His things were strewn across the floor, evidence of his endeavor.

"What's wrong?! We heard a bang!" Yelled Ruby emerging from her dorm, followed by the rest of her team and the NR of JNPR.

'Oh great, whole gang's here now' Jaune thought to himself.

"What's going on? Pyrrha, why are you on top of Jaune? Are you crying? Did Jaune make you cry? Jaune, did you make Pyrrha cry?" Ruby shot out, almost as fast as Prof. Oobleck, which both horrified and impressed her friends.

'Pyrrha PLEASE don't tell them, for the love of dust-' Jaune's thoughts were cut short.

"J-J-Jaune was *sniff* Jaune was trying to leave!" Pyrrha struggled to say these words, like she didn't want to admit it.

"He WHAT?!" Everyone yelled at once, besides Ren of course.

Jaune winced when he heard this, there were already too many people here than what he wanted, drawing in more would not help in the slightest.

"Guys, could we maybe take this somewhere else? You know, before more people show up?"

* * *

JNPR Dorm Room

* * *

"Why would you even think of leaving, Jaune?" Ruby asked right after they all took a seat and calmed down.

"Yeah Vomit-Boy, what's the big deal?" Yang asked with a semi-serious face.

Jaune let out a sigh, and started his story. The WHOLE story up until now, about his childhood, his fake transcripts... Everything.A few awkward minutes after Jaune was done with his story Blake broke the silence.

"I think I speak for everyone when I say that we had no idea Jaune..."

That surprised him, Blake had never before spoken to Jaune, let alone use his name.

"So... Does that mean that I can go now? The ship leaves in fifteen minutes and I don't want to miss it." Jaune said with his head down.

"Are you honestly still on that?!" Yelled Ruby, obviously really mad.

"YES Ruby, yes I am! I can't be a leader, I never could. I don't belong here, I never did and never will. Don't you guys get it? I came here with my little dream of being a hero for the people of the world. K... Killing Cardin woke me up." Jaune said with a defeated look in his eyes.

"You know what? I think he's right! I always got a vibe from him that was a little off, like he was hiding something, that he didn't belong. He shouldn't even be here right now!" Weiss said with a small laugh.

*BAM*

Pyrrha was on top of Weiss and pummeling her in the face.

"You think that you know?! YOU FUCKING BITCH! If anyone doesn't belong here, it's YOU, not Jaune! You're so cold and stuck up. You get everything you want, whenever you want. You wouldn't know what it feels like to work for something. I mean actually WORK for something, not pay people to teach you!"

It took a while for everyone process what Weiss had actually said. I mean sure, she can be bitchy sometimes... Okay, a lot of the time, but not on this level. Their confusion gave enough time for Pyrrha to both break Weiss' nose and her jaw.

By the time Ren pulled Pyrrha off of Weiss, she was already out cold. Blood pooled around the heiress' head from her nose. Jaune had already called the school medics and they were there in no time.

"Wow... I guess that Yang isn't the only one who can rage like that..." Nora said quietly.

"Shh.." Ren whispered to Nora, immediately quieting her down

Pyrrha was hugging Jaune's arm tightly, as in, if she let go he would disappear from the face of the earth. No one knew what to say, or what to do.

Seeing this as an opportunity, Jaune spoke up.

"You guys... As you can see, this whole debacle has caused too many bad things to happen. I want you guys to be friends. And Weiss was right, I never belonged here, and I still don't" Jaune said trying to hold back tears.

Pyrrha tightened her grip when Jaune mentioned Weiss, he could sense hate from her.

"If that's what you think is best Jaune..." Pyrrha started.

"Okay! I'm glad that you see it my wa-"

"Then I'll just go with you!" Pyrrha said, surprising everyone there.

"W-w-w-wait a minute there Pyrrha, you have to think of your future. I don't even know where I'm going to go, you can't just-"

"If you go, I'm going too! I've made up my mind and I'm not changing it!" Pyrrha said pulling Jaune into her more so.

This action made Jaune blush extremely. No one had ever been so believing in him, not even his family.

"Y-you guys can't leave, what are we gonna do without you?!" Nora asked with the most worried look in her eyes that any of them had seen before.

"We can't very much just let those two go by themselves now can we Nora?" Ren said, startling most in the room.

"Are you all insane?!" Yang yelled, honestly confused as to why things escalated this quickly.

"We're a team, your team is your family. We're not abandoning our family." Stated Ren matter-of-factly.

"Ugh, you're all so stupid! I can't handle it!" Yang screamed as she stormed out of the room. Followed by Ruby.

Blake gave one last look at Jaune before she too followed the rest of her team.

"So... You guys realize that you coming with me would make my leaving pointless right? I want you to have the leader that you deserve, not ... Me..." Jaune trailed off.

"We all believe and trust you Jaune, we'll follow you to our deaths if you think that it's what's best." Pyrrha said, after calming down.

Jaune felt tears well up in his eyes, he really didn't know these guys at all.

"Well you guys better start packing then! We leave in thirty minutes, seeing as we missed the first flight." Jaune said with a grin.

* * *

Twenty Minutes Later

* * *

Team JNPR was in front of the school with the RB of RWBY.

"You guys are actually leaving?!" Ruby said with concern.

"We're more likely to get a job being huntsmen with experience under our belts. We can just come back and join as third years to get our licenses." Pyrrha said, still latched onto Jaune's arm by the way.

"Plus, Jauney thinks it's what's best!" Exclaimed Nora vigorously.

"Is this really true Jaune?" Blake said with careful eyes, awaiting the answer.

"Well, I think it's best for me, not the whole team. They wouldn't let me go by myself anyway so..."

"JAUNE!" Blake yelled.

"Yes, I think it's what's best"

"Then it probably is, I wish you guys the best of luck and will see you in a year" Blake exclaimed.

"You agree with them?! I know what Yang feels like now! JEEZ!" Ruby said, flailing her arms into the air.

*Sigh* "There's no arguing anymore I guess. If I'm not going to see you for a while I guess that it won't hurt would it?"

"What are you- MMMFFHMM!"

The most unexpected happened... Ruby lent in and kissed Jaune, on the lips I might add.

This made Pyrrha blush madly, out of both embarrassment and anger.

Jaune had no clue what just happened, he didn't even have enough time to think about it because, right after Ruby pulled away, Pyrrha pulled him in and kissed him too.

"Well, I think that's our ship over there, time to go!" Ren said pulling Jaune away from the two girls and running for the ship.

"WAIT!" screamed Pyrrha as she chased after the rest of her team.

"Well that was unexpecte-" Blake was cut off by a sob... From Ruby.

"What if they don't make it back? What if they die out there? Will I be able to see Jaune again?"

"They'll be fine Ruby, I know they will. They have Jaune leading them" Blake didn't believe herself even the slightest, but what Ruby needed was the comfort of her words, so she supplied such.

* * *

Elsewhere

* * *

"Ha Ha Ha! Now isn't that a great turn of events! Just spectacular!"

"Do you think this is funny?! They could very well die on their own, in the wild no less!" Glynda Goodwitch was furious, to say the least.

"But if they make it back to be third years, it will push our plans forward tenfold!' Ironwood said with hope in his voice.

"IF being the key word here..." Ozpin deadpanned.

"Are you saying that you don't believe in them Ozpin?" Ironwood said sarcastically.

"I believe in their skills... But not in their minds. This world is a dangerous place, it... Changes people, we all know this from experience." Ozpin's words made the smile on Ironwood's face dissipate as fast as it had appeared.

"Well I guess we'll just have to wait and see..." Ironwood said, looking through his scroll at the camera feed of team JNPR playing on the screen.

"That we will..." Ozpin replied.

* * *

AN: I'm sorry this took so long to get out and that it's so short. Writers block sucks hardcore. I hope you enjoyed and, you know, a review or two wouldn't hurt... :D.


	5. Chapter 5: Caelfall

**Hey guys! RatherNerdyMan here and I'm just going to start off by saying that I want to sincerely apologize for the time it took for me to get this out. I had a lot of emotional baggage that I had to get over and it just made me not able to write anything.**

**So, I'm sorry.**

**Onto the story, I'm happy to announce that the ideas are flowing freely within my noggin, so chapter six with definitely come out sooner rather than later so... Yay for that :D. I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading!**

* * *

Jaune was in a forest, he didn't know where the forest was, just that it wasn't safe. He felt constant eyes on his back, as if something was waiting for that one unavoidable slip up, the action that would end it all. He knew that if he did something wrong, he would die. There was only one thing wrong with the picture though, Jaune didn't know what he was supposed to be doing here in the first place, let alone being able to not mess it up. Keeping up his guard, Jaune starts walking through the forest. He soon comes upon a small wooden cottage, he hears the laughter of his team inside. Ecstatic, Jaune starts running towards the cottage. He was still being watched, but he didn't care, If he was with his team, they were unstoppable. When Jaune reached the door, everything went silent... Eerily so. Jaune was hesitant to open the door, but he grabbed the doorknob with renewed gusto.

"Hey guys, what's so funn-AAAHHH"

"AAAHHHHH" Jaune screamed awake.

"Jaune? What's wrong?" Asked Ren, who currently sat in front of Jaune. They had transferred to a train that was going to their first bounty hunt.

"N-nothing Ren, just another nightmare" Jaune stated sitting up.

"The same one? Odd, we could put this on hold and get that checked out if you feel it's necessary"

"No! No, I'm fine I swear. I think it's just the medicine I took for the motion sickness, honest" Jaune stated, holding his arm up to his heart.

"Okay, if you insist..."

Jaune then looked out of the window, seeing the village of Caelfall. Team JNPR had gotten an extermination/protection job from one of Ren's parents' "associates". The village had been getting attacked by a pack of Beowolves recently and was in need of protection. It was rather odd though, Caelfall was decently small, but Beowolves rarely ever attacked big groups of humans, and Caelfall wasn't too small to be attacked for no reason.

'I wonder why that is' Jaune thought, before hearing a yawn from his... Stomach?

Jaune looked down to see Pyrrha waking up from, what seemed to be a very peaceful nap... On Jaune's lap. Pyrrha had seemed to be getting very attached to Jaune lately, like she thought that he was going to disappear any at second, and she wanted to go there with him if he did. Jaune didn't mind much at all, for... Personal reasons. Nevertheless, Jaune couldn't help but think that this new behavior might get into the way of the team functioning properly. He had to set her straight, at least for the mean time.

"Pyrrha, would you mind getting off of me? My legs are starting to cramp"

"Wha-? Oh! Sure, sorry Jaune..." Pyrrha said, struggling to get back into a sitting position. Disappointment evident in her voice.

Jaune hated being so mean to someone so close to him. It was against his nature, it made him feel absolutely terrible. Before he could start punching himself, Nora strode in with a huge grin on her face.

"Looks like we're here guys!"

Suddenly feeling very inspired, Jaune rose from his seat.

"This is our first mission guys, our first opportunity to really grow" Jaune exclaimed putting his hand in between the other three.

"This experience is going to help us Jaune, trust me" Pyrrha said with a smile, laying her hand on top of Jaune's, causing a slight blush to spread across his face.

"Of course it is, BECAUSE. WE'RE. AWESOME!" Nora yelled slamming her hand onto the pile, eliciting an audible groan from Pyrrha and Jaune.

"..." Ren put his hand on the pile with a sigh.

A sudden stop made the team topple over like dominoes, causing them to chuckle a bit at the debacle. After a bit of trouble with the team's (particularly Nora's) luggage, the team made it to the hotel that they'd be staying at for the duration of the mission. They were getting free rooming while they were here as part of the payment for the extermination.

"I guess this is it.." Jaune let out dropping a pile of Nora's things, seeming to be the only one bothered by the immense weight of her belongings.

"The owner did sound a bit eccentric.. But I'd never guess something like this would be in a town all the way out here." Pyrrha said, also relieving herself of the weight of Nora's baggage.

Stood before the group was a twenty some-odd story building that looked to be, at least, a four star establishment. On the front it read "Schnee Heights". Seeing the sign made Pyrrha's face turn from one of awe to one of pure disgust. Jaune saw this and hurried the team inside the building. As they entered they were immediately surprised by what they saw. People From all walks of life, conversing and helping each other.

"AH! I see that you've arrived in one piece!" A sturdy man in a suit gallantly yelled while striding over at a quickened pace.

"One piece? Why do you say that?" Jaune asked with a worried tone.

"Just a joke son, no need to get your armour dented about it!" The man explained, followed by a hearty laugh. He was starting to remind Jaune of a rather Portly fellow back at Beacon. Jaune had noticed Ren slowly inching away towards the entrance.

"Ren, is something wrong?" Jaune asked worriedly.

"Ren?! By Jove! It is you ya' little squeak face. I haven't seen you since you were four!" The man exclaimed pushing through the team, giving a giant bear hug to Ren, despite his obvious increasing displeasure.

"There wasn't... Anything... *gasp* Wrong..." Ren got out before he passed out from lack of oxygen.

*Sigh* "Enough of the reunions, you young ones probably want to have some rest before you go gettin' rid' of our little problems out there." The man said dropping Ren like a used toy. Causing Nora to run to him and check his vitals.

"Right this way!" The man said pointing down a hallway to an elevator.

They all got into the elevator, Ren being dragged by Nora. The elevator showed exactly 22 floors, the man pressing and lighting up the 21 button.

"Our rooms are on the 21st floor? Wouldn't it be better if our room was on the first floor in case we need to get to the town faster?" Jaune asked while desperately sticking to the corner of the elevator.

"Well I guess you would be right, but all of the townsfolk are on the lower floors and I can't just well kick em' out now can I?" The man said, staring at the elevator door.

A few more moments of awkward silence later and they finally reached their floor. Surprisingly, there were only two doors on either side of the short hallway.

"These are your respective rooms, and I hope you will be RESPECTFUL in them... I know that you're in the prime of your youth but we do not condone such activities as se-" The man was saying, being interrupted by Jaune rushing up to him and putting a hand over the man's mouth.

"I don't want you giving her any ideas!" Jaune whispered frantically to the man. Sneaking a glimpse of Pyrrha over by the still unconscious Ren, and Nora holding him up by the legs. Jaune could have sworn that he saw Pyrrha wear the most demonic grin he'd ever seen for a split second before she smiled at him. He just chalked it up to his imagination and released his hand from the burly man.

"I... See how it is now.. The boys get the left room and the girls get the right room" The man barely got out, seeing the full morphing of Pyrrha's face from one of glee, to one of murder. And it was directed at him, to say it intimidated him would be an understatement. If he had been missing even a shred of his dignity at this moment he would've spilled the contents of his bladder right then. Instead, he just turned around and walked quickly over to the elevator. As the doors closed him inside of the machine, he yelled out.

"The name's Tanpopo by the way!" He got out right before the doors closed him off from the group, leaving them to their own devices. He might just have to ignore the noises he might hear from his room on the 20th floor, for his own safety.

The four teenagers were standing there kind of dazed at how fast all of those events occurred, before Jaune and Pyrrha noticed Ren laying on the floor.. By himself.

"Where's Nora?!" Jaune asked in a panic, looking around frantically. Suddenly hearing the sound of feet hitting something soft repeatedly he figured out where she went. Jaune then grabbed Ren by the ankles and dragged him into the left room. Telling Pyrrha to settle in and that they'd go check out the village afterwards.

An hour passed and Ren finally woke up flailing his arms around, managing to punch Jaune square in the jaw as he walked by. Knocking Jaune flat on his back, knocking the wind out of him.

"...Sorry about that" Ren apologized, now helping his fallen leader back up off of the floor.

"No problem.." Jaune wheezed out.

"I'm glad that you're awake, now we can go explore the town" Jaune said while dusting himself off and regaining his composure. Jaune then grabbed Ren by the wrist and dragged him out of their room, before knocking on the girls' door. The first one out was Pyrrha, surprisingly, Nora was still jumping on one of the two the beds. Pyrrha saw that Jaune had Ren's wrist in his own and seemed to click her tongue in distaste. Sure, she knew that, even if Jaune did like Ren that way, Ren obviously liked Nora. But that doesn't mean that she likes anyone's hand in Jaune's except for her own, it left a bad taste in her mouth and she hated that taste. It was the taste of defeat, of loss, and she never loses, especially when it came to Jaune. Pyrrha had years of hand-to-hand combat experience and skillfully separated the two fast enough so that they wouldn't notice.

"You guys ready to hit the town?" Jaune asked, feeling a slight absence in his hand region, but shrugged it off.

"I am, Jaune, Nora has been simply delighted since we got here. She's been spouting nonsense about food, killing, etc... Normal Nora things I suppose" Pyrrha said with a giggle. This made Jaune's mood lighten a bit, as it seemed that Pyrrha was acting like her usual self again and not overly clingy. And with everyone ready, the team set off to see the sights of the village.

The village was like an immense antique shop, in fact, aside from the towering hotel, everything seemed like it was frozen in time from since they were first built. It was mysterious and beautiful in and of itself. But for some odd reason, Jaune didn't feel safe, like danger was right around the corner. Actually, he had felt it ever since his encounter with Cardin at the cliffs, it was just far more profound in this village. Before he had realised it, Jaune was by himself in the middle of what seemed like a shopping district, void of any liveliness due to the town being evacuated to the hotel. It was extremely eerie.

"P-Pyrrha?! REN!? NORA?!" Jaune screamed, desperately trying to contact his team. After a good couple of minutes, Jaune decided to search for his team for a bit. If all else failed he would just go back to the hotel, it was common sense to return to their current place of residence if they got separated. Jaune continued in the direction that he felt his team would go, eventually happening upon a forested area that seemed to be the edge of the town.

'_Well that doesn't make sense, why isn't there a wall here? It's almost guaranteed suicide to make a town anywhere without some sort of barrier separating the population from the creatures of Grimm_.' Jaune thought while checking the area for lone Grimm. In his analysis of the area Jaune found a trail with maple trees lining the sides. Jaune started following the path... Against his better judgement. It was like something was pulling him to the end of the trail, something he needed to see.. After what seemed like hours of mindless following of this trail, Jaune found himself in a somewhat familiar setting. The trail had ended a ways back, but Jaune had just noticed, but he didn't feel lost. Jaune continued through the forest until he heard what seemed like a girl screaming. He instinctively ran towards the scream in hopes of helping whoever was distressed. He ran with all of his might towards the noise, he came upon a rather large tree that concealed the source of the scream. When he rounded the tree his legs collapsed beneath him as he saw where the scream originated from. For there, in the middle of the forest, was a cabin... The exact cabin that recently haunted his nightmares. It was another scream that gave Jaune the courage he needed, whoever was in there needed help more than he needed to not go inside the cabin. So he ran up to the door, expecting it to be unlocked (as it was always unlocked in his nightmares), but it was locked. Jaune then heard crying from what sounded like a middle-aged woman. He frantically started using his body to try and bash his way through the door, to get to whoever it was that was in there. He had to stop and asses the situation more thoroughly. Upon closer inspection, he realized that all of the windows were boarded up, and that the cabin itself was in worse shape than he had originally thought. He then realized something, the crying and screams had stopped. What replaced them was a very quiet and methodical giggling, which soon grew to outright maddening laughter. Jaune, with nothing else to do, gave one final bash at the door and it finally gave way. What he saw made him collapse with fear and dread. For what he saw was his team, the NPR part of it, sitting next to a pile of bodies... Human bodies. They were laughing maniacally with blood covering their features. Ren and Nora were having too much fun messing around with the intestines of the fallen before them to notice Jaune, but Pyrrha saw him right away. Her eyes were red and puffy, it seemed that she was the one crying. It didn't match her appearance now though, for she had the most evil smile Jaune had ever seen in his life, it sent shivers straight down his spine.

"What's wrong _**Jaune**_? Why don't you join us _**Jaune**_?" Pyrrha said while walking up to him and embracing him in a blood covered hug, effectively smearing said blood all over Jaune. Causing him to wretch and unsuccessfully keep in the contents of his stomach. When he turned his head back, Pyrrha's face was mere centimeters away from his. She seemed to have red lipstick on, but Jaune knew better. After all... It smelled too much of iron to be lipstick. At this gruesome sight, Jaune started crying softly out of pure despair.

"What could have caused this?" Jaune wept out, still in the embrace of Pyrrha... Or whatever it was.

"Don't cry my general, after all, it was you who did this" Pyrrha said with a gleeful smile and kissed him on the forehead, leaving a bloodied mark where she had planted her lips.

"What do you mean?! I would never tell.. I would never ask you to do something like this!" Jaune denied, trying to escape Pyrrha's grasp, effectively failing.

"Oh~ But you did, it was so valiant and handsome my amazing general~" Pyrrha said as she squeezed him harder.

"NO! I WOULD NEVER! AND STOP IT WITH THE GENERAL!" Jaune screamed using all of his strength to shove Pyrrha off of him and running to a nearby corner.

"Your words hurt _**Jaune**_, just join us _**Jaune**_. It's alright, no one will hurt you if you're with us _**Jaune**_" Pyrrha said with outstretched arms, slowly inching closer to Jaune.

"Get away from me!" Jaune yelled as he cowered in his corner, closing his eyes to what she might do to him.

"_**Jaune**_... Please... _**Jaune**_... _**JAUNE**_! **JAUNE**!" Jaune opened his eyes to see a concerned Pyrrha shaking Jaune to get his attention. He was back in the shopping district of the village, his friends still there, Jaune fell onto the cobblestone road and burst into tears. Effectively causing the rest of his team to rush over to him and inspect him for anything wrong. Ren had a clue at what could have caused this to happen though.

"It was the dream again, wasn't it Jaune?" Ren asked as the team tried to help Jaune off of the ground, only to find out that he was unconscious.

"You'll tell me about this dream of his when we get back to the hotel, in full detail" Pyrrha hissed at Ren, making him cower a bit at the anger that she emitted towards him.

"Y-yes mam..." Ren said picking up Jaune's legs.

They arrived at the hotel just before nightfall. They were greeted by an overly excited Tanpopo, that was.. Before he saw Jaune unconscious. He immediately called in the medical staff who had hurriedly hauled Jaune off to the infirmary.

"I didn't expect this to happen.." Tanpopo said to himself, not noticing the rest of Jaune's team eavesdropping in on him saying this.

"Expect what to happen to him?!" Pyrrha said, practically spitting venom as she spoke.

"T-that there would be an injury this early..." He said, catching himself.

* * *

**Ozpin's Office**

* * *

"Are you sure? This early? I thought it would take much longer than this.." Ozpin said, worry clearly evident in his voice. He was currently talking to a man over his scroll's video chat.

"I am more sure of this that I would wager your coffee on it Ozpin" The man said With a chuckle.

"Keep a close eye on him, I am trusting you with him Tanpopo"

"Of course Oz, nothing but the best for our little General here"

* * *

**So we finally are getting something in relation to the title of this story! **

**Next time: some unexpected findings!**

**Questions? Concerns? Ships? Leave them in the review or PM me!**


	6. Chapter 6: The Reveal

AU: Hey guys n' gals, looks like I'm still alive. Finally got the chapter done after schoolwork and everything that's been going on. I'd like to apologize (yet again) for the time it took to get this out. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy the newest chapter.

Also, feel free to drop a review or PM me with anything that concerns/interests you. All is welcome.

* * *

Jaune awoke in a haze, everything was fuzzy.

'Where am I? The hotel? How did I get here, I thought…'

He could barely remember what had happened prior to his mysterious location change. Last thing he knew, he was in the middle of town, on his way to scout the town and surrounding forests for roaming Grimm when… He passed out?

"No, that doesn't sound right..." Jaune thought aloud.

Not long after his statement Jaune heard the door to the room open accompanied by a gasp.

"Jaune?! You're awake?" It was Pyrrha. She dropped a tray with what seemed to be food and water on it, running over to him.

Suddenly, Jaune's nightmarish dream started returning to him in the forms of flashbacks. Jaune screamed and shielded his face from Pyrrha, making her pause and switch her expression to one of shock and hurt.

"J-Jaune…? It's just me, you don't have to be scared…" Pyrrha choked out, tears threatening to drop from her eyes as she slowly got closer.

Jaune moved his arms away and looked at Pyrrha, seeing her in the state that she was in broke his heart.

"Pyrrha, I'm sorry. I didn't mean t-" He was cut off by her hugging him. This hug was different than the ones she had given him recently. This one was comforting and strong.

"I was so scared Jaune, you were screaming so much in your sleep. I was afraid that you might not wake up again…" Pyrrha said as she sniffed, finally letting her emotions out on Jaune's shoulder.

"Whatever it is, you can rely on me, just know that I'm always here for you"

"I know Pyrrha, and thank you" Jaune said, returning the hug. It was a beautiful moment, all things considered, until…

"Ah! I see the early nevermore gets the Wurm!" Tanpopo boasted as he entered the room with heavy steps.

Both the teens groaned as they separated, not wanting the warmth and comfort to leave.

"Yeah, seems like it. Wait, early? Did I sleep all night?" Jaune inquired.

"All night, and the next day, and the next…" He continued on.

"You've been out for five days Jaune…" Pyrrha whispered into his ear.

"Five days?! What about the mission?!" Jaune exclaimed, pushing himself out of the bed.

"Everything's fine my boy, your partne-" He was halted by Pyrrha's glare.

"Your _team _took care of our problem while you were out" Tanpopo adjusted.

Jaune stopped in his tracks.

"A-all of them?" Jaune stuttered out.

"Why yes, was quite the spectacle to see"

"That's uh… That's great…" Jaune said, downtrodden. For he was hoping to grow as a warrior.. As a hunter while they were on this journey. He already screwed up the first mission, and for what? He fell asleep, the fact beat into him harder every second he thought about it. Making him worry more and more for the future of his team.

Tanpopo noticed Jaune's new attitude and thought it was about time to share his news.

"Miss, may I have a word with the lad? _Alone_" At this, Pyrrha glared at the man with distrust. To which he returned with full gusto, surprising Pyrrha, startling her as to why this jolly man went so serious. She then left the room without another word.

"Now, I can tell that you didn't just come to help us out of the kindness of your heart. Granted, that was mainly the case, but you had personal gain from this excursion didn't you?" The seriousness in his tone catching Jaune off guard.

"Heh, I guess so. I just wanted to be stronger, to be able to protect those dear to me" Jaune stated, looking towards the door that Pyrrha had just exited.

"Don't worry my boy, it's not the muscle of a man that makes him a hero. It's the strength of his heart that matters at the end of the day" Tanpopo said, making a fist and lightly tapping Jaune's chest where his heart lies.

"But…" Jaune stuttered out, taken aback by the wise words of the otherwise laid back man.

"The heart is a strong thing, believe enough and do the right thing. That's what matters at the end of the day" He said with a smug smile on his face.

The moment was interrupted by a muffled scroll ringing.

"Sorry, gotta' get this" Tanpopo said as he answered the scroll, slightly flustered.

"Heya… No, I haven't told him yet.." He started, stealing a glance at Jaune before turning his gaze away right afterwards.

"Well excuuuusseee meee! I was just giving him advice that he obviously needed!" He continued arguing on the scroll for what seemed like a millennia to Jaune, causing him to sigh and sit back down on the bed, contemplating jumping out of the window for escape from this awkward situation.

"Alright, alright. I'm doin' it, calm down Oz" Jaune perked up at that nickname, knowing who Tanpopo was speaking to now.

"You're talking to Ozpin?" Jaune finally inquired.

"More like BOREpin amiright?" He stated with a chuckle, causing Jaune to groan inwardly.

"Anywho, amazing jokes aside, I have something to tell you…" He stated, gaining back his serious expression and tone.

"W-what is it…?" At this point, Jaune was worried about what the man might have planned along with Ozpin.

"Looks like you've got yourself a Semblance now my boy!" Tanpopo exclaimed, patting the boy on his back roughly, laughing haughtily.

Jaune was in disbelief, was it true? Had his Semblance truly been discovered?

"It's something we like to call "The General".

* * *

So there it is! Next chapter be ready for explanations and maybe even a fight? Stay tuned. As always, any and all feedback is appreciated immensely so don't be afraid.


	7. Chapter 7: Clarity

AU:

Heya people, how goes it? I hope it goes good. Got this chapter out earlier than normal now that time is freeing up a little.

I also want to thank you guys for getting over 10,000 views. That is mindboggling and I can't say thank you enough.

So without further ado, chapter seven.

* * *

"The what?" Jaune asked. Never before had he heard of anyone referring to a semblance with a name.

"Why, The General mah boy" Tanpopo said with noticeably less vigor than the last time.

"I-I don't understand… The General? What can it even do?" Jaune implored, still trying to take in everything

"Not 'it', _**you**_. Never think of your semblance as an outside force. It's as much you as you are" He said brimming with, what Jaune thought was just his jolly attitude.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry, it's just... I don't even know what it does or how dangerous it is" Jaune said running his hands through his hair.

"I assure you that it-" Tanpopo tried, before being interrupted by Jaune.

"Oh god…. What if it... What if I hurt them? I wouldn't be able to forgive myself. What if I kill-" *SMACK*

Jaune just sat there, jaw agape, holding his cheek with tears building up in his eyes. 'DAMN! He hits hard' Jaune thought before Tanpopo spoke up.

"I do not like being interrupted _boy_" His voice held venom not suited for the man… Before disappearing almost as fast as it had shown up. Jaune instantly shut up, the man reminding him of his father for that short period of time.

"Sorry, Sir…" Jaune almost whispered.

"Now then, to clear up your worries, your semblance does not put your friends in danger at all. In fact, it has the potential to make the chance of them being hurt close to impossible" He stated, hands clapping together.

"Wait wait wait, almost impossible? So, what? I can buff them?" Jaune stated with bated breath.

"I do not know what this 'buff' thing that you speak of is" Tanpopo said with pure confusion.

"Oh, right. It's kind of like giving them energy or a damage boost, or making their defense better" Jaune stated, playing all of those games when he was at home gave him extensive knowledge in the explanation of in-game lingo to adults. Often earning him disapproving looks from his father and polite, confused looks from his mother.

"Oho! Then yes! That is a perfect example of the potential of your semblance" Tanpopo laughed out before playfully slapping Jaune in the back, causing him to lose his breath. Despite this, Jaune wore an immense grin. This was it, he could be _useful_.

"But…" Tanpopo started, much to Jaune's disarray.

"But what? What is it?" Jaune pleaded.

"While it does have that potential, it is merely that, potential. You will not get any closer to that without training your aura and practicing control over your urges"

'That's kinda weird, urges? Must be some kind of special training you need to do to control your semblance' Jaune thought without thinking too much about it.

"Oh, okay, no problem. I'll go talk to Ren and see if he'll help me with that. He's kind of the group expert on the subject" Jaune said through another smile.

As he rushed out of the room Tanpopo let out a deep sigh.

'Man, I hate lying to kids. But it's what's best for him right now' He thought before opening up his scroll and tapping away a few messages to an unknown contact.

**Meanwhile, back at Beacon:**

"Ruuuuubyyyyy, C'mon. You can't keep doing this!" Yelled Yang from outside the bathroom.

"I can and will!" Ruby yelled back

"Yang, she's been at this ever since JNPR left. Maybe you should call them. It might help her a bit" Blake added from her bed, face behind her book.

"She's supposed to be a huntress in training, and our leader I might add. She needs to grow up" Weiss said, throwing in her two cents.

"She just needs time, or… Cookies!" Yang said, pulling out a bag of cookies from behind her back, getting closer to the door for that last part.

As fast as a bullet leaving the chamber of a gun Ruby was out of the bathroom grabbing at the bag. Alas, it was to no avail, for Yang used her height to her advantage, holding the bag just high enough so the reaper couldn't get her prey.

"Yaaaaaannngggg, no faaaiiirrr" Ruby whined, sitting down in defeat.

Yang smirked in victory before sitting next to her sister and opening the bag. She offered to share, to which Ruby happily agreed. After all, some cookies are better than none at all.

"So Rubes, what's gotcha hiding in the bathroom every day during our free time?" Yang asked, trying not to let her worry seep into her tone.

Ruby's coy smile faded as she looked down

"It's nothing" She whispered.

"It can't be nothing, you don't need to lie to me. To us." Yang said reassuringly.

"I'm sorry, I just don't want to talk about it" Ruby said softly, getting up and moving towards the bathroom door again.

"It's Jaune, isn't it?" This caused Ruby to halt. For the voice came from someone unexpected… Weiss.

"Wh-what do you mean? Heh, why would it be about Jaune?" Ruby stuttered out.

"Obviously it's about him, it all matches timewise. And that kiss before he left doesn't really help your argument at all" She stated matter-of-factly.

At this, Ruby shot a glare in Blake's direction. To which she was returned a shrug from the girl. Not seeming guilt-ridden in the least.

"Ugh, okay, you may be the tiniest bit right" Ruby sighed.

"We need to talk about… Whatever this is" Weiss said, waving at ruby, noting her appearance. She had very dark rings under her eyes, as well as her eyes being bloodshot from crying. She was in her nightwear which was covered in various stains (which had not been cleaned in weeks).

All Ruby could do was groan.

**Caelfall Forests**:

Jaune was currently being put through his tracks.

Ren had wholeheartedly agreed to help Jaune with his aura and his control over urges. Jaune was ecstatic, at first. Now though, he was regretting asking his friend and teammate in the first place. For here was Jaune, standing on his hands with a board holding bricks on his feet. Ren paced back and forth looking for any falters in Jaune's task. If he spotted anything, or if the bricks fell off, Ren would issue a quick jab to Jaune's stomach with StormFlower.

"You're getting better Jaune, it's been what? Twenty minutes?" Ren complimented

"nineteen minutes and fortyyyy seven, no eight seconds" Jaune said with a red face.

"Still good nonetheless. I believe this stands for a reward" Ren stated, starting to walk off.

"W-wait! Where are you going?!" Jaune sputtered out.

"I'm going to get myself an award, teaching is tough work" He said while getting farther away.

Jaune was about to drop down when he saw a glint in the distance, it was a scope from atop a nearby building.

"Oh, and I have Pyrrha watching in case you feel like slacking on your training" Ren yelled. Jaune could've sworn that he could hear a smirk with those words, but couldn't focus on it too long as the fatigue of this activity was starting to weigh on him.

'I can't falter or else Pyrrha'll snipe me' Jaune thought to himself. But much to his chagrin he could feel his arms start to wobble and begin to give out. Jaune started to panic and began to think of ways to get away from the Spartan he called a partner.

'Maybe I could hide behind a tree? No, I'm too weak for that right now, I can barely keep upright right now' Jaune thought as his arms began to wobble even worse than before.

Jaune felt the weight of the world catch up to him and felt his elbow give out first as he closed his eyes.

He expected to hit the ground before feeling the inevitable shot of a rifle. But to his surprise, he didn't. In fact, he felt like he could stay in that position forever. As he opened his eyes he gasped. His arms were covered in a dull white glow. He had unconsciously put aura into his arms. When he looked up to Pyrrha he could no longer see the glint of her rifle, so he got up and decided to go tell Ren and Nora about his breakthrough.

When he had finally arrived at the house that Pyrrha was on he yelled for her. But only the wind replied, followed by a tinking noise from above him. Not more than a second after that, he heard a crash from behind him.

This caused Jaune to jump and pull out Crocea Mors before seeing what had caused the noise. It was a small mirror with some string attached to one of the broken pieces.

Jaune instantly put two and two together and cursed Ren's name, screaming something about... dishonor?

* * *

Filthy trick there Ren, very filthy indeed. But I guess it worked, right?

Anyways, hope you like the newest chapter. Feel free to review and I will be sure to get to you if you have questions :D


	8. Chapter 8: Nothing Changes

**Hey Guys, this isn't actually how long I intended it to be, but I felt I needed to get this out. Sorry if it's not that great, and sorry for taking so long. I had to take a bit longer than anticipated because of school. But hey, I gadiated them highschool, so yay n' stuff.**

**I've gotta say though, the constructive criticism that you guys put forward helped me forge a new path for the story that I think will be much better for you. So thank you.**

**For all of you wondering, I will explain the origins of why some of the characters are OOC later in the next chapters, so stay tuned if you're curious (*TーT)b.**

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"All I'm saying is that my actions were justified Jaune" Ren stated, currently drinking tea while brushing up on his book, 'The Anatomy of Beowolves and other Assorted Creatures of Grimm'.

"Justified? Huh, I must've missed the class about leaving your friends upside down in a forest full of Grimm!" Jaune huffed, crossing his arms and falling back onto his bed.

"One, you're exaggerating"

"I am no-"

"AND TWO…" Ren continued.

"You learned something about your aura no? The mind is a frugal thing Jaune, it can do things that you don't want it to do. But it's also gone through years of experience, it knows what it needs to survive, and will go to the ends of its abilities to achieve that"

"…Wow, Ren, that was very… wise" Jaune said, almost at a loss for words.

"Don't give me credit for that Jaune, those are my father's words" Ren breathed, closing his eyes.

"Oh, I'm sorry Ren, I didn't mea-" Jaune tried.

"No, don't apologize, it's just an old saying"

"But… Wasn't your dad... ya' know...?" Jaune stuttered out.

"Yes, he's gone. It's the past, I'm over it. I couldn't have done anything about it"

"I don't know Ren; I don't think you ever really get over it. We can talk about it you know"

Just as Ren was about to open his mouth to respond, Nora burst through the door with Pyrrha in tow, both holding little stuffed Beowolves.

"Guys! You won't believe what we got from the kids!" Nora screamed excitedly.

Jaune gave Ren a 'We'll talk about this later' look before turning to Nora and asking with a slight smile,

"No Nora, what'd you guys get from the kids?"

**Tanpopo's office**

Tanpopo watched team JNPR with an amused look from his scroll. Seeing the bubbly redhead jump on the bed holding out a stuffed animal of some sort while doing the occasional flip here and there. His video stream interrupted however as he started to receive a call from an unknown number. He would usually answer the call like any other. But he had a suspicion as to who this particular call was coming from. He eventually slid his finger across the answer button on his scroll and put it on speakerphone.

"H-hello? Who is it?" He spoke.

"Mr. Tanpopo, it's always such a pleasure hearing from you. How are you doing?" The mysterious voice replied.

"You know _VERY _well how I am doing Miss Fall..." Tanpopo spoke her name like it was the most disgusting thing on the planet.

"Oooohh, such harsh words from a man… Who has no room for such!" Cinder said harshly as a crackle could be heard through the scroll, along with a whimper.

"DON'T! I.. Apologize Miss Fall, that was very… _Rude _of me to address you in such a manner" Tanpopo struggled to contain his anger while speaking.

"There we go~. Now that wasn't so hard was it?" Cinder said smoothly.

"No ma'am. Now if I may ask.. Why are you contacting me right now?" Tanpopo asked, fearing that he knew exactly why she was calling him.

"Oh, my dear Tan~. There's no need to play a fool. You and I both know what is needed"

"I was afraid that you'd say that" Tanpopo sighed, wringing his hands together.

"Just stick to your end, and I'll provide mine~" Cinder stated seductively before swiftly ending the call.

'Damn that woman!' Tanpopo raged internally before smashing his scroll with his fist. Tanpopo went to his office bathroom mirror and looked at himself, as if judging his very soul.

'Looks like you're going to have to dirty your hands… One last time' He thought to himself.

**Schnee Heights Main Lobby**

"Wow Jaune, I didn't think that you were this good with children" Pyrrha giggled as she watched Jaune get dogpiled by, what must have been, at least twelve children from the village.

"Ugh... Hardy har har Pyrrha" Jaune grumbled from beneath the laughing children, before struggling to stand up.

"Awwwwe, no Mr. Jaune! We want to play some more!" A little Faunus boy with horns whined along with other miscellaneous whines of discontent from the other children.

"Haha, as much as I would like to. And as catchy as Mr. Jaune sounds, I have to go do my job now, sorry guys" Jaune smiled, causing the kids to sigh in defeat.

"You're going to go fight the scary monsters right?!" one of the younger kids, a little girl, asked Jaune with an amazed tone.

"Well yes, yes we are. But I can't really say that I help much" Jaune said with an amused smile while ruffling the girl's hair.

"You promise that you'll be back though, right?" Another Faunus boy with wolf ears asked.

"Oh yeah, we're the greatest team ever! There's no way we'd leave someone behind!" Nora yelled as she rushed towards the kids from the elevator, grabbing them all up in one giant hug.

"We're ready to go if you are" Ren said as he walked up to Jaune.

"Yeah, I'd say we are" Jaune turned to Pyrrha to have her give him a thumbs up and a smile. Turning back to Ren he gave him a quick nod then motioned towards Nora. Signaling him to get Nora and group up outside.

"So Jaune, what's on the itinerary for today?" Pyrrha asked as Ren and Nora joined them again.

"Hmm, well first off Mr. Tanpopo said that he accidentally broke his scroll, so we need to scrounge around for parts in town or else he won't have any way to contact the outside for help if need be"

"Sounds like a plan, shall we?" Ren said, motioning towards a more urban side of town. Jaune nodded as he led the team.

**Caefall Urban District: Electronics R' Dust (About the size of a Wal-Mart)**

"Dang, I didn't know that any of these were still in business" Jaune stated as he rummaged through some broken shelves of the old electronics store.

"I mean, we had one in my hometown when I was a kid, but it even shut down after a bit. And our town was even bigger than this place at the time" Jaune continued.

"Must have been the only means of anything "new" coming into the town, seeing as it's the only store of its kind here" Pyrrha stated matter-of-factly, rummaging through a different pile across from Jaune as Ren and Nora scrounged around in a deeper part of the store.

"You have a point I guess. Oh wait a second! I found something!" Jaune yelled as he pulled out the screen of a scroll and holding it up like it was the holy grail.

"Here Pyrrha, put it in the bag, I'm going to go find Ren and Nora and check on them real fast. If anything happens, call for me, we don't have reception on our scrolls in here" Jaune stated, putting emphasis on the last bit.

'Oh I'll call alright, call you to my room later tonigh-' Pyrrha thought before being dragged out of her fantasy.

"Got it Pyrrha?" Jaune said, slightly louder than usual.

"Oh, oh yes Jaune, of course" Pyrrha stuttered out.

"Okay, be right back" Jaune waved before jogging off in the direction that Nora and Ren went off on.

**Literally five minutes later**

"Now how in the hell did I get lost?! This place didn't even look this big from the outside!" Jaune said as he walked around using the flashlight on his scroll for lighting.

As Jaune was walking he stepped on some old magazines and lost his footing, throwing his scroll and effectively losing his only source of light in this man-made dungeon.

'Well that's just dandy' Jaune thought as he started getting up off the ground before freezing as he heard some footsteps behind him. He went to grab for his weapon but wasn't fast enough as he felt a swift kick straight to the back of his head. This elicited a scream out of him before hitting the ground hard enough to get knocked out.

**Ren and Nora: Electronics R' Dust**

"Reeeennnnnn, I'm boooorrrreeedddd. We should go back to Pyrrha and Jaune! They're probably having tons of fun!" Nora whined, bouncing over debris.

"I'm sure they're doing exactly what we are Nora" Ren stated.

"Yeah but Jaune always makes things fun! C'mooonnn" Nora whined, louder this time.

"… I guess it is about time that we regroup and see how much we've gathered" Ren sighed, grabbing their "loot" bag and starting off towards the entrance before hearing a distant cry. Nora instantly stopped moving, grabbing Magnhild and shifting it into hammer form.

"Was that…?" Nora began to ask.

"I really hope that he just tripped in the dark" Ren said under his breath before unsheathing StormFlower and running at full speed towards the scream, Nora in tow.

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Ooooo**, super secret cliff hanger. Feel free to leave reviews, good or "bad", they help no matter the case**

**Feel free to leave reviews, good or "bad", they help no matter the case.**

**Thank you for reading ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ**

**Sincerely-**

**RatherNerdyMan**


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